In a conventional form of control system for controlling the operation of various pressure fluid consumer appliances such as piston and cylinder units, hydraulic props and shifting rams in a mineral mining installation there are numerous flexible hoses arranged as bundles or clusters within flexible protective sheaths. The hose bundles have plug-in coupling devices to permit detachable connection with other components such as the appliances and control devices with valves which control the flow of the pressure fluid. For safety reasons, it is normal to have the controls for a roof support installed on the next adjacent roof support so that for example an operator can be protected while hydraulic props are operated to raise or lower the roof caps of the supports. As control devices it is known to use assemblies of valve blocks with a number of control valves actuated with manually-operable levers or push-buttons or rotary controls (see DE-OS No. 2 038 661 which has an equivalent U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,880). It is known to utilize distributors to connect the control devices to the hose bundles and DE-OS No. 3 012 291, DE-OS No. 3 014 927 and DE-OS No. 3 003 065 describe known forms of distributors. These distributors are normally connected to the control devices with bolted connections and it is then essential to seal mating faces of the distributors and the control devices against the high pressure of the fluid. A distributor is also known from DE-OS No. 3 216 553 which has an equivalent GB No. 2 119 885) which employs a clamping plate arrangement to lock with the control device and plug-in nipples which mate with sockets in the control device as well as an adaptor to mate with one of the hose bundles. The connection of the prior art distributors with the control devices frequently presents problems due to manufacturing tolerances and this is especially the case with the plug-in nipples and sockets which necessitates high precision and consequently high costs.
A general object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of distributor.